Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-06-08
AN OLD ROMAN CIRCUS.
Visions of the Past Obtruding Themselves
While Viewing Its Ruins.

Visions OF the Past Obtruding Themselves
While Viewing Its Ruins.
quilted the dreary Enclosure, and
proceeded at once to the circus erected
during the reign of Diocletian, in or
about the year 2S4. The amphitheater
is some 100 feet in height, 1872 yards
long and LAG yards wide-its entire
circumference being 528 yards. Forty
five tiers of steps rise around the am
phitheater. The circus is, on the
whole, a peculiarly Roman open-air
structure, its walls being composed of
enormous stones some six feet long
and three broad, while the flights of
galleries, leaning one against the 9TH
er, contribute most to the strength
and durability of the edifce. Viewed
from an eminence, the circus looks
like an extinct volcano, and generally
reminds one of the Colosseum of
Rome. What blood-stained visions of
the past obtrude themselves on the
minds eye, while one gazes on these
still stout and sturdy ruins of a semi
barbarous age! What cries of agony
must not these old walls have heard
and what wild acclamation of triumph
mast not have thrilled the echoes of
these gigantic round vaults and CALLER
les at times when 10000 spectators
met to see Christians or gladiators
'butchered to make Roman holidaym
Hither were brought in chains tall, stall
wart rustics from the forests of Ger
many to wrestle with famished tigers
in the arena, pale-faced, white-robed
virgins, whose only crime was that
they were believers in the doctrines of
Christ, and who paid the penalty of
their belief, torn asunder by the fangs
of angry lions; subject Princes
from the banks of the Danube
and athletes from the banks of
the Arno; slaves from the palaces of
, the rich, and serfs from the novels
of the poor, whose blood, as it
flowed, and whose agonizing cries as
they rang through the amphitheater,
tickled the palates of thousands of pitt
less men and women! Here sat the
lordly patrician, surrounded by lack
eys, in his weil-cushioned box, gloat-
ing over the CORY flesh and bones of
the victim. By his side Tolls his beauti-
full dame, ablaze with jewels and
reveling in the luxury of purple and
fine linen, while her eyes sparkle with
unwonted brilliancy, and her sensuous
lips culver in the throes of delight as
she chances downward on the mangled
remains of forms once as symmetrical
and faultless as her own! These bouts
of muscle took place quite frequently
at Verona. Every election of duumvir
or an edile was pretext for one Of
! these blood-feasts; while candidates for
political honors often got them up at
their own expense in order to curry
| popular favor, or rich folks left lega-
cies which were devoted to the sustain
ment of such orgies. In those days
people went to the circus just as peo-
pie 90 nowadays to the cafe or theater.
The seventy-two arcades around the
amphitheater are at present let out to
chcap-jack vendors and sundry other
! peddlers, few of whom, by the by,
have any adequate idea of the historic
al surroundings of the peculiar
market-place where they dispose of
their petty wares. Antiquarians and
scholars generally protest against the
presence of the peddlers in such a
spot, but times are hard and the
corporation has very few francs in
its treasury, and as the letting of
the arcades brings in profit, the city
ediles prefer to do as they are doing
rather than to become bankrupts by
protecting the circus from vandalism
and profanity. Verona (Halg) Cor.
San Francisco Chronicle.